Rattle 'n' HumLooks quite small from the outside. The frontage is as narrow as many Amsterdam pubs. And, like many Amsterdam pubs, it stretches far to the rear. I'm sitting most of the way to the back. Where I can gaze admiringly at the Cask Ale Bar.
Green Flash IPA
The glass is sitting on the table a couple of feet away and I can smell the grapefruit. Guess I'm in for a citrus bomb. Not a bad temperature (i.e. quite warm). A bit like lemon and lime. Or alcoholic lemonade (have I used that one before?). It could actually do withe being a tad cooler. It's drinkable enough, but I wouldn't want a whole session on it. Definitely does taste like its 7% ABV and works pretty well as a cask beer.
Fuck. The beer menu lists the BA rating. That puts me off for a start. They have 3 UK cask beers. For those the BA rating is 100% meaningless.
See how sparse my notes are getting. That's fatigue setting in. We're so nearly, nearly finished.
Rattle 'n' Hum
14 East 33rd street,
New York 100016.
http://www.rattlenhumbarnyc.com/
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6 comments:
It's such a shame that the frontages of these places look so dull. I'm sure they're great, though.
Jeffrey, er, depends what you like. Not EVERY bar needs to be full of TV's. Rattle 'n' Hum does at least have a good selection of cask-conditioned beers. Just a shame I was there during English week.
I don't know what you mean when you reference TVs - I don't think any pub should have a TV. None of the ones I drink in do!
Jeffrey, I mention it because, if I remember correctly, ALL the pubs I visited in New York had TV's. Even Blind Tiger had one.
I find a TV incongruous in a serious beer bar. It's the single biggest difference I noticed between US pubs and those in Europe. Social interaction is what pubs should be about. TV's and deafening music just hinder that interaction.
The tv and music thing bug me too when overdone. If a tv is allowed to flicker with a low or no volume, I don't mind, but I dislike in the extreme loud music, which seems omnipresent today. It can literally interfere with the sensory appreciation of beer. I sometimes ask for the volume to be turned down and have never been refused. Even outdoor patios often have speakers in all the corners...
Gary
The TVs don't bother me as much as the senselessly loud music. So many times I've stood at the bar, yelling to be heard over the music -- when no one is dancing, no one is singing along, and everyone is SHOUTING TO BE HEARD OVER THE MUSIC. It's not even so much annoying as it is baffling: whose idea was this? Who thinks it's any kind of a good idea? Who can I hit to make it stop?
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